A microwave has now been placed in OneZone on Frenchay Campus and an additional Microwave has been allocated to Glenside. The President is currently working with the University on the provision of hot water.

The President met with the Director of Facilities to discuss the issues that students were facing, a new section of website is being developed to explain the parking changes. All staff and student car parks are now unrestricted and the ECC is available for students to park.

A volunteer painting day took place with 20 students helping to paint the Glenside Students’ Union An additional microwave has been added to the Students’ Union. The President has been working alongside the Faculty to make general repairs and improvements to the Students’ Union on an ongoing basis.

30% of the current shop provision is Vegetarian or Vegan, the marketing team are working alongside the shop to clearly label the Vegetarian and Vegan options and look to increase the amount available to students.

The Students’ Union are currently working towards two accreditations for Sustainability- Green Impact and Responsible Futures. We have recently won a Fairtrade Award for our shop and Coffee Bar and our current Sustainability Officer has won the ‘Spirit of 2015’ award for Bristol Green Capital.

More feedback opportunities will be available throughout the year 16/17 in hope to set up a halls reps system. There is also a full time member of staff the Residential Community Coordinator who is working to work with students to improve their unviersity accomodation experiences.

The VP Community and Welfare will be working on Freshers' publications in the coming months and reviewing information given to new students.

In November 2014, the VP Community and Welfare ran an Anti-Abuse Campaign at UWE this helped to lobby the university and engaged with a large number of students to take a zero tolerance approach.

The activity included students wearing white ribbons as well as making pledges as a result the Pro Vice Chancellor of UWE lobbied the Bristol Mayor to run a Bristol wide campaign against domestic abuse and violence. As a result of the Anti-Abuse Campaign the Intervention Initiative will be implemented across all faculties to educate students how to become an active bystander to take a zero tolerance approach to sexual abuse, harrassment and violence. Both Universities and Students' Union's in Bristol have signed a policy to take a zero tolerance approach.

The VP Community and Welfare is launching a 'Late Night Do It Right' campaign across Freshers' and beyond to engage with students on these key messages.

The Students' Union is sitting on a joint board with Bristol SU and the Univesities to propose projects to tackle sexual violence and harrassment including adopting a safe space policy. The Students' Union venues policies will reflect these changes when dealing with these matters.

The VP Community and Welfare has passed this to the University and the multipfaith Chaplain who has taken it into consideration when planning space provision for the future. The faith space provision across the Univesity's campuses is currently being reviewed, there are plans to develop the Glenside faith space into an effective multifaith space over the next two academic years. Bower Ashton and the Arnolfini site have dedicated multifaith space for all students to access. The Community Hub will continue to provide multiple prayer rooms on Frenchay.

VP Community and Welfare has taken resolves to UWE Equality and Diversity Unit to discuss funding for students. This has also been taken to the UWE Money Advice and Funds Service for consideration. We are aware of national action on this issue through the NUS and will be engaging with future campaigns. This has also been raised with UWE Management in various discussions. UWE have committed to covering the, formerly government provided, Access to Learning fund for the 2014/2015 academic year. This fund which totals over £500,000 will be used to help students with the financial costs of University.

The Students' Union are working closely with Bristol City Council, South Glos Council and Bristol University Students' Union to encourage students to register to vote. Since October the Students' Union have run several voter registration events, including door knocking the Frenchay Student Village as well as on campus activities. On 5th February we will be launching a cross city ballot to gain student opinion on a range of issues. For the latest updates check out www.uwesu.org/ge15

The community and welfare officer has been working with Staff at UWE who are also representatives of Mental Health charities and passing them onto the VP education to help the current APT review which is being undertaken.

The Community and Welfare officer is running a student support campaign aimed at finding out what students thought about the support on campus and what provisions there are. He is currently in the process of writing the results up as a report, planning focus groups and lobbying for change. The community and welfare officer has been working with Staff at UWE who are also representatives of the charities Anorexia and Bulimia Care and Beat to increase visibility of support around eating disorders for example on the advice centre website and is currently looking into how to extend this to accommodation.

The Students' Union is a project partner in the Univesity's Resilience Project, which aims to support UWE students in accomodation with mental health considerations, this will involve mental health and specific training delivered to Wardens, Academic Staff, PAL leaders, Students' Union staff, Info Point staff and other important advisers. This project will launch in September 2015 under the Wellbeing Service.

Students' Union staff are attending mental health first aid training to ensure all activities can be inclusive and safe.

VP Education has been in discussions with the Director of Academic Services about this. Unfortunately, the university does not have resource to establish a partnership in Gaza. It will however continue to strengthen links in country with an already established partnership with UWE.

There are ongoing conversations between the university, students’ union and bus operators around transport in the city. The Students’ Union will be writing to the Mayor of Bristol about student concerns.

Want to make a change?

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Key

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